I don't care a wit over whether she sang it or just mouthed it to a pre-recorded track. The controversy should be over how it was sung. She changed the tune in parts and even the words in places. Pop singers are notorious for taking their artistic license too far when singing the national anthem. It's OK to miss a note but you don't modify the tune or words. I'd have preferred that she was made to lip sync to an approved and proper singing of the song. A presidential inauguration isn't a place to show disrespect for tradition.

does that make the Civil War (with the South fighting against the tyranny of the North, so to speak) legitimate? And would it make, say, the Texas militia (population) fighting the BO tyranny legitimate?

"does that make the Civil War (with the South fighting against the tyranny of the North, so to speak) legitimate?"

Not even Lincoln appealed to the Constitution as justification for "Keeping the Union together". In fact the question of secession wasn't even brought to the Supreme Court till AFTER that war, where a Yankee stuffed court lied.

JP, first.......yes, it was written 'when' they couldn't imagine the world as it is today; however, they knew that a tyrannical government would always be a possibility if not a probability because 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely' and the people would defend against it.

Kees....the Civil War was fought for exactly that reason. The South came together because they believed that the North was attempting to become tyrannical. Either side COULD have won; it was just a matter of which had enough money, men, and arms to sway it in their direction. It was all dependent upon which side of the Mason/Dixon line you believed more strongly in at that time. When the outcome was finally determined and agreed on, the main point that was conceded was the slavery issue......most other things both sides were in agreement on, so the differences weren't that far apart, and the country united.

The end of slavery is the thing everyone remembers, and it's important that it was done, even if it took a war.

The thing everyone seems to overlook is that the Civil War ended the idea of state rights being superior to the Federal. The northern states probably didn't foresee that either, but the Civil War established that federal government is stonger and it's authority supercedes that of the individual states. The trend has continues.

As to there not being that much difference so the country united, the loser states were basically occupied by puppet government for a while and "pacified" back in the union. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating "the South shall rise again" or wishing the Confederacy had won. The US probably eventually gained strength from the Civil War, but it wasn't a everyone got over it and came together after surrender and lived happily ever after.

Interesting comment,

it was just a matter of which had enough money, men, and arms to sway it in their direction

Pragmatic and true, even though in the slavery aspect the moral side won, that statement acknowledges right or wrong doesn't determine winners.

gives the States more rights than the Federal Government, Roger.....The Federal Government only has the ability legally to defend the entire country. Granted there are SOME laws now that give the Feds more strength over the States, but over the last few years, it has become more evident that the States are slowly taking their control back and away from the Feds, and in many cases the Superior Court is upholding that ability. The States, in order to get some of the control back have had to resort to creative work-arounds (such as the healthcare exchanges), but they are figuring out how to do it.

I'm saying the civil war ended the time peroid where the federal government was regarded as being tolerated by the states and became the central power.

You won't deny that federal law trumps state law in conflicts in overwhelming percentage of the time will you?

States are more political divisions than independant governments now. I'm sure you don't like it, but surely you can see it.

I'm sure you rather end federal money to all states and let each state sink or swim on it's own and reduce the federal tax by that amount.

Then again, no federal regulation or aid for transportation, roads, airports, education, etc., each state being in charge within it's border. No NSTB to investigate airline crashes and how they relate to each other scattered across the country. No standard set of rules for airport operation, safety, security.

No federal regulation of business, banking, insurance, each state have different rules to apply within it's border. Industry and business having to deal with 50 entirely different set of rules. Yes, they have to deal with individual state regulation now but they have to conform within federal guidelines also.

You complain all the time about not being allowed to buy insurance out of state because what you want isn't sold in your state. Is that federal or state laws? How do you think it would be if every business had to operates separate divisions within every state?

The Federal Highway Administration says it will reimburse state National Guard units when they pitch in to do emergency road repair work.

"National Guard troops were vital to Vermont's recovery effort, saving lives and property in the hardest-hit areas, and helping with road and bridge repair," Shumlin said.

With the FHWA agreement that it will pay $4 million to reimburse the Guard's road work, that much will be freed up for the state to use elsewhere in ongoing efforts to rebuild from the storm, Shumlin said.

The Federal Government commandeers the State National Guard units when the Feds decide they are needed; however the State National Guard is set up BY the State FOR the State, and the States are reimbursed for their services when the Feds take them over. That's why the State NG units are used in so many STATE disasters.......and only recently have been used on a regular basis for NATIONAL issues, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Only the Federal Government can commandeer them to do that. The States' NG operates under two umbrellas. In State disasters or riot situations, the Governor has the ability to call them into action.........the President has the ability to send in those same NG units ONLY if the Governor ASKS for that, which was why there was a delay in getting the NG units into Katrina.......the Governor of LA DIDN'T lay out that contingency plan ahead of time as the hurricane was coming and Bush's hands were tied until she did. The leadership of LA and NO failed their people miserably and the liberals have blamed Bush since day one.

And as far as FEMA goes.......the liberals had ripped Bush a new one over Katrina day in and day out, and yet nary a word when it comes to BO's FEMA over Hurricane Sandy and those people are STILL without homes and/or power MONTHS later.

It still is a non issue. And I don't remember exactly what the incident was with Minnelli and lip sync.

Advertising a live performance, selling tickets to a live performance and lip syncing it is dishonest, yes, and is not delivering what the spectators paid for.

But this media debate is totally stupid, as several said, in slightly different works, most don't give a rat's asss.

Even if you want to argue lip synciing is fraud (there are a lot of backlog to try there), tying the lip sync to activities of Obama or his administration is really looking for anything to condemn them for.

Sorry, I don't give a damn if she lip sync and someone in charge checked off on it, I don't see having a hissy fit about it does anything to fix anything.

The public lens is on so much for anyone in the public eye that nothing gets left out. To comment about anything even to the point it should have this way or that or "eye rolls" that got press. Give me a break and the general public too. So what if she lip sync or not, overall it didn't seem that bad. But no, zero-in on anything that's not perfect or on que, come-on we're human and not robots. She as sure wasn't trying to butcher the music or Athem, etc., and marched on if it got hosed, like any pro would. maybe, in private she apologized to the Prez and family but heck that's private. Next time, play a record or CD to do it all or have the USMC band do it. Much ado about nothing, IMO. -----Willy

It was cold and the band hadn't had sifficient time to rehearse. I don't understand how they jumped from the stated problems expressed by the band director to it being Beyonce, who could probably have sung the anthem in her sleep, even with the cold.

While the modern pop idiom isn't my preferred listening material, Beyonce Knowles is a very talented singer with a remarkable range, and the chops to do just about anything.

The other element is that while she is a melismatic singer (the overly ornamented style currently in vogue) she has exceptional taste and precision in her use of them, and consequently doesn't decend into the chasm of Maria Carey and so many others who cover up defects in voice production and tone with a lot of frippery.

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